Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Ovono, who collided on the pitch with Tenerife forward Jesus de Miguel, resulting in the player's death, will not retire. The club has denied reports circulating on social media that the player had supposedly decided to leave football, infohub.kz reports.
After the tragedy, posts purportedly written in the goalkeeper's name appeared online, containing an apology to the deceased player's family and a statement that he was quitting the sport. Andorra said the messages were posted from fake accounts and did not belong to Ovono. The club also denied reports that the player was retiring.
The football club stressed that the goalkeeper's only statement was distributed by Andorra's press service on its official social media pages.
The tragedy occurred on Monday, November 2. Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Ovono came out of his goal toward the center circle and crashed into de Miguel as he tried to stop a one-on-one break. The referee showed the goalkeeper a red card and stopped the match.
It emerged that de Miguel lost consciousness as he fell. He was carried off the pitch on a stretcher to the dressing room, from where the player was taken by ambulance to hospital. The club soon announced the tragic news: de Miguel had died.
A few days ago, FC Andorra published an official statement from goalkeeper Jesus Ovono about what happened. "These are the hardest days of my life. It is hard for me to find the words, and very hard to comprehend everything that happened. I am in enormous pain," the goalkeeper said of the tragedy.